We turned our condo into a mix of Hogwarts and Diagon Alley for the party. Emma welcomed her friends with letters welcoming them to Hogwarts, including materials lists. The kids loved this light box, which I was lucky enough to win at last year’s SNAP! conference. Emma is still sad that we can’t make that conference this year (I took her last year). Maybe next year?

This was our second round throwing Harry Potter birthday party – the first round was Emma’s seventh birthday. I’m still partial to the easy wand decorating activity we did that year, and we used the same cake (but with a gluten free mix this time).

Draw a Magical Creature Harry Potter Party Activity

This simple draw a magical creature printable is the only thing I came up with for the party. Emma could have made it, but it was a last minute addition, and she was busy with school. I always have a simple activity for kids who race through everything else or show up early / stay late. This printable combined with Sargent Art’s wonderful gel pens (which we had been conveniently sent) filled that purpose neatly.

Only a few kids used this printable, although I’ve noticed my kids pulling out extras since the parties. Some kids drew random pictures, others drew characters from the Harry Potter books. Seven-year-old Lily drew herself riding a flying horse, and this morning Anna drew a couple of magical elves on a leftover sheet of paper.

Creative Writing Harry Potter Party Activity for Eleven-year-olds

Emma loves writing, and so do many of her friends. She came up with this Daily Prophet activity. I thought it was pretty cool. Her friends LOVED it. We had this activity set up in Emma’s room, and they all took turns adding to it. Now it’s a fun souvenir for Emma from the party.

Emma loved Emily’s pygmy puffs, but she decided they were too much work to make. Instead, she stuck googly eyes on glitter pom poms. She did make a cute “care of pygmy puffs” printable, but forgot to give it out. Oops! A few friends found it at the end of the party, and loved it.

Wizard Hats

This is the one idea we copied exactly from Emily’s Harry Potter party. I used LiEr’s wizard hats tutorial. I only got seven hats made, and we had thirty kids at the party. We decided to turn the hats into a raffle party prize. I love the note Emma wrote:

Sorry for the inconvenience, but this shop is low on hats. If you want one, please enter in the raffle. Thank you! – Madame Malkins

Have you ever thrown a Harry Potter party for an eleven year old? I see at least a couple more parties with this theme in our future, so I’d love to hear of any activities you have. Please share in the comments below, or on my Facebook page. You can also tag me on Instagram. Sign up for my newsletter to receive book recommendations, crafts, activities, and parenting tips in your inbox every week.

I just started reading Harry Potter aloud to my kids tonight! I’ve never read it before. Unfortunately, I had to spend a LONG time explaining what was going on in Chapter 1. My 7 year old really wants to know what all his friends are talking about, and I refuse to let him see the movie until he’s at least listened to the book, but I’m not sure we’re going to make it! He may need to wait a couple years.